After the thrills of Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday was pretty average. Nic had a doctors appointment in the city, Sharon was at work, Kirsty was at school and Pete was off taking the maybe-boat-buyer on a trial sail. So it was just me and the dog.
I wrote some post cards out, read some fanfiction and browsed Equestria Daily before heading outside.
Thankfully, it was a lovely sunny day, so I took a long swim with Wookie on the surf board and sat in the sun and read my book - My Dear, I wanted to tell you. It's about a working-class boy for falls for a middle-class girl, but then commits a shameful act and instead of coming clean, he decides to join the war effort and get sent to France.
It's a good read but not my usual genre, so I can't recommend it too highly. It didn't grip me, so it wasn't fantastic. But the characters are mostly based on real people, and that makes it a very thought-provoking read, even if I didn't like the story too much.
Nic came home, and we took another swim and she was teaching me how to dive. It was going quite well until I whacked the bottom of the pool with my head. That was the end of that for one day. Nic came out shortly after a surfboard whacked the back of her calf and made her leg numb. Yay for hardcore swimming.
Pete managed to sell the boat! How awesome is that? This cements their trip to England, which is great news :) And what a lovely bundle of money to suddenly find in your bank account. Happy days there :)
Just had a quiet evening not doing much, and went to bed at around 9:30. Like, what? That is so unlike me. I was feeling a bit under the weather so I'll blame it on that. I am not going to turn into one of those Early-to-bed-early-to-rise people (lovely as they are). Merlin's do not go to bed before ten-thirty. Fact.
Thursday went off to a slow start, but eventually Nic Pete and I ended up at Dicky Beach on the Sunshine Coast. (Totally click the link - you can move the orange man onto the beach to get a proper look).
The waves were huge, bigger than any I've seen on any British beach, and the water (whilst cold) was not a shock to the system, but rather a pleasant sensation. I could totally get used to things here.
There are apparently underwater currents called Rips which pull people out to sea. In some extreme cases, people have died trying to escape them and not being able to. The rips were pretty big on Thursday, and Nic said that more than once we had been pulled into one. I had no idea, but if Nic was then I must have too since we were swimming together. Exciting/scary stuff.
We had body boards with us, and eventually I sort of got the gist of how to ride the surf (actually I still have no idea). Turns out I'm not a natural at it, so there goes my theory of being a mermaid in a past life...
I treated us three to fish n chips, and Nic and I had a caramel milkshake each. That was our biggest mistake of the day; it was so sickly sweet that when I finished it I felt immediately ill afterwards. We had to go sit on the beach for half an hour for the worst of it to pass. I'm writing this five hours later and still feel queesey. I think it must be a sign that milkshakes are evil and I'm not to have any more for at least two days after this blog gets posted. Doesn't cover Cold Rock though ;)
On the beach after I felt a little better, Nic was experimenting with her camera, taking action shots. So Pete and I were the guinea-pigs of this test and had to jump off of various sand-hills and dance on the beach so that she could capture cool photos. They are very amusing, especially as (because I'm such a fool) I didn't bend my knees on one particular jump, and apparently THAT REALLY HURTS! and I fell over and rolled a couple of times on the sand pathetically moaning "My knee! OUCH! MY KNEE! I CAN'T FEEL MY LEG!" which is not the most dignified thing I have ever done.
It didn't get much better when Nic said "I'd give you a hand but I don't want to get sand on my camera."
You can tell I'm totally loved here, can't you? :P
Friday was my last full day in Brisbane. So to show my appreciation to Sharon and Pete for welcoming me into their home and family for the past three and a half weeks, I baked a cake.
It was the same recipe that I used for Kirsty's birthday cake, but this was the first cake that I'd ever baked without any kind of supervision whatsoever, which was quite a big thing for me. It consisted of a layer of dark chocolate, with a teaspoon of coffee in it, a spread of blue icing sugar, a layer of white chocolate with a teaspoon of vanilla essence in it, then coated with tonnes of milk chocolate. To finish up, I wrote THANK YOU in big blue icing.
I was quite pleased with it, even if the white chocolate layer had sunk in the middle. I did some research as to why this happened, and have deduced that it was because I whisked it too much, letting too much air into it. I mean, how stupid is that? You have to get air in the mixture to make it fluffy - but don't do too much else it'll collapse! Well, frankly that's ridiculous. How am I meant to know how much air a cake needs? Bah.
Nic and I decided to head into Brisbane city as she had a guitar lesson at six o'clock. We headed to Ferny Grove and hopped on a train.\
We had a Maccy D's for lunch (again), then headed to a CD shop to look for a band I have recently discovered called LIGHTS (capitalisation and all). It's a Canadian sof-electro group fronted by a girl with an incredibly soft voice. If you imagine the kindest gentlest person you can think of (or Fluttershy), and give them a singing voice, this would be the result.
Well anyway, we found one of their CDs, but I wasn't going to pay $26 for it so it stayed on the shelf. Amazon or Play when I return to England, I reckon.
(Sorry if I miss out any Ts, the button on my keyboard is sort of broken. Need to get that fixed somewhere.)
After a while Nic and I decided to head to Southbank to go to Max Brenner, which Nic had not yet been to. I was wearing my You've got the emotional range of a teaspoon shirt, and the guy behind the counter there said "I like your shirt, isn't that from Harry Potter?"
Why yes, yes it is. This guy was kind of cute, too, and so with a bit of daring and reassuring and bribing from Nic, I wrote my mobile number down on a serviette and left it on the table after we finished. That was one of the most spontanious things I have ever done, and I was rather proud of myself for it. Yay for being a daredevil!
Nic then had her guitar lesson, and on the way there we found a few people busking. There was an Australian woman in a flowing red dress playing good but mournful music on a cello, and a strapping young English guy playing joyful tunes on a mandolin. After Nic went for her lesson, I had a chat with the English guy and gave him two dollars. We had a nice chat and he said he had busked his way across Australia - well, from Sydney upwards. I mentioned that I was heading to Melbourne and he said he hadn't been there but would have liked to.
I did ask him how long he played for each day, and apparently he turns up at Southbank at 5pm most days, and plays till around 11pm. Then, he heads down to Fortitude Valley where all of the clubs and bars are, and plays till around 2pm. He said that drunk people are very generous - he's had people emptying their wallets on him and giving him $50 notes, which is insane but wonderfully so.
\
I didn't know how long Nic would be at her lesson for so I didn't wander too far; not that there is far to wander in Southbank, as it's either shops or swimming pool. I sat with my legs dangling in the pool, and got out my notebook and jotted down some creative musings, including a map of what my own country would look like (complete with states and a Capital), a drawing of a fruit bat as they were flying overhead in their dozens which was incredibly cool to watch, two poems and a picture of a pony. I did that for around an hour and a half before I decided to go see if Nic had forgotten me and left without me.
Turns out she hadn't - the guy was just a bit of a talker. He is Australian born and bred, but has a stronger British accent than even I do. I'm not quite sure how this is possible, so I put it down to him watching tonnes of old English television shows, and putting it on to be different from everyone else.
We then found out that there was a market on Southbank plaza. How cool is that? It was a Friday night, around eight-thirty going on late, and there's a market on the river bank. There were loads of stalls - authentic Aussie souvenirs such as real kangaroo balls made into things like a bottle opener and a back-scratcher (the latter came with a real kangaroo arm and hand attached), and purses made out of cane toads. We left it all there. That sort of thing is not for us.
Other stalls included indian clothing, which would be good if you wanted to dress up as a belly dancer, earrings and body jewellery, badges, sweets, clothes, bags with inbuilt speakers... the list goes on. We had a nice little trip around the market place but eventually headed to our last destination of the day - Cold Rock.
Yep, to finish of my incredibly unhealthy day I had a small version of my new love - cake batter and caramel mud cake with chocolate brownie. And again, it was delicious. That pretty much sums up my time in Brisbane; delicious. Will be making a stop there again at some point for sure.
Saturday comprised of ponies and packing. I wasn't going to take my entire suitcase to Melbourne (which I have affectionately nicknamed Melly) with me, so some things had to stay behind, such as my Pony board game, souvenirs for the family, two of my four bikinis, two of my four towells, my platypus, a book and other stuff like that. Everything had to fit into my travel backpack, which I'm pleased to resport that with some shuffling and folding, it did.
Sharon and Kirsty drove us to Brisbane airport and dropped us off, and with a quick goodbye and some hugs and kisses we went to go check in to Tiger Airways.
The wait wasn't too long, and we had a Hungry Jack's to occupy us (the Aussie version of Burger King). I have decided to never order a chicken burger again - nuggets are always the safer option. Because even when you say no salad they still give it to you, and you have to take it back because there's so much crap in it that you said you didn't want.
Therefore, if you want chicken, go for nuggets. Nuggets all the way. Plain and simple.
We ended up running to our departure gate. Go figure. There's a first time for everything I suppose, and now that is something I shall never need to do again. It is forever checked off of my bucket-list.
What was exciting was that we had to board the plane from the tarmac. I've never done that before, and have only seen it on TV and in the movies, so that was quite cool. Getting on and off the plane with the loud noise of engines running, and the fierce wind they create was a tiny bit thrilling for a country bumpkin like me.
We also had to adjust our clocks when we landed - Melly is ahead of Brisbane by an hour because they have daylight saving time, so get to spend more time in the sun each evening.
The flight only took us around two hours and twenty minutes, though it flew by (if you'll pardon the pun). I bought the book of Tomorrow, When the War Began to keep me enterained and it did it beautifully. It's a gripping book, and it's increasingly apparent that the film stuck to the book like glue, which is so refreshing in this day and age. It's well worth a look if Amazon or Play stock it. I doubt Waterstones would; it's an Australian author and I don't think they are too well known outside of Oz. It's a shame, because I hear there are eight in the series and they improve over each book.
Well anyway, we landed and found Wendy and Geoff :) It was great to meet up with Wendy again, seeing as the last time I saw her I was twelve, and also to meet her husband. He seems like a lovely guy with a cool sense of humour, so I think staying with hem will be fun, if not interesting.
They dropped us off right outside our hostel - King Street Backpackers, which is more or less just off the centre of the city. And let me say that Melly is huge. Brisbane is compact, with lots of things crammed into a small space, and pretty much everything is in Queen Street. In Melbourne, everything is spaced out to a huge degree, and seems a bit more classier. Arty-farty, as my Dad would say.
Well, King St Backpackers was small and cramped. We were in room 23, on the first floor. There's a lock to get into the floor, and then a lock to get into the room. Neither of which were tremendously efficiant and we spent quite a while trying to open each one, looking like proper lemons struggling with these locks. Then along comes a German girl and with a flick of her wrist the lock clicks open. Typical, huh?
We went for a walk in the city, and it was around half-ten. But honestly, I felt quite safe. When people get drunk here, they don't get disorderly like our Colchester people do. Of course guys were still calling out to us jokingly, but it didn't feel threatening like it can do back home.
We bought an incredibly cheesey pizza, and it was so rich that we couldn't finish it. The guy who sold it to us wanted to know how it tasted, so I told him it was perfect but there was a tad too much cream cheese. I hope he wasn't offended by that.
Melbourne's biggest mode of transport is the tram system, WHICH IS AWESOME! How cool is it to casually catch a tram to wherever you need to go? It's like stepping back to Olden England. And there aren't only tram trams - oh no. There are also resuaruant trams, where you can have lunch or dinner whilst being carted around the city; disco trams where a party is occurin' and moosik is blastin' whils being carted around the city; pole-dancing trams where... well, you get the idea.
It's very cool though, and me and Nic are gonna book to have dinner on a tram at some point :) That should be fun. Looking forward to it.
We headed for bed at around midnight, and had a very disturbed night. I woke up at random intervals all night long. Two girls opposite us came in at quarter to six in the morning, and they were very noisy. It wasn't even funny. There were sixteen beds in that small room, and I'm sure half of them could have been woken by these two girls.
I can't remember what time Nic and I rocked up in the morning, but I made sure to make as much noise as discreetly possible to disurb those two girls. Hee. I'm getting bolder and more mischeavous as I discover who I am, and I think I rather like it :)
We didn't really know where we were, and it quite quickly became apparent that we were both useless at reading maps, so we spent the majority of the day just happily getting lost in the city centre. We had fun though, and discovered a parkland and the huge shopping central that is Bourke Street. That is right next to China Town, and Nic got some rice-y stuff for lunch, and I steered us back towards unhealthy Subway and got a chicken sub. No brown sauce in Australia though :( Sad face.
The amount of people stopping to ask you if you have a spare dollar is crazy. The first time it happened I was by myself in Brisbane, and I stupidly went Err, okay then? Why? and they said their house had been robbed and they wanted a drink or some food. It was obvious that they were lying but for some reason I gave them a dollar anyway. That was the first and last time I plan for that to happen. Gotta get streetwise, girl!
Nic and I found a cinema so we bought ourselves some tickets to see A few best men which is (according to Nicky) a less crude version of The hangover. Since I have never seen the latter, I can't tell you if she's right, but I can tell you that this film was nothing special. I like to come out of the cinema with a feeling of 'Wow, I'm really glad I saw that', and it just didn't happen. There was a lot of crude jokes and gross scenes which I didn't really appreciate, but that's cause I'm uptight and a prude. Other people (like the other two couples there besides us) found it funny so I guess it's just me.
I think next time I'll go see that romance that's coming out soon. Nic pulled a face at it but she wont be with me by the time I go see it, and I don't mind going by myself to the movies. Well, no, I do mind. But I think I just have to pony-up and do it. Else I wont get to see my movie, unless I can drag Wendy there... *plan forming*
When we came out of the cinema at about half five, it was raining. Just spitting, you know? We decided it was time to head back to the hostel as we were both pretty tired. As we started walking back, it started pouring it down. It was quite a hike back to the hostel, and we were rather soaked when we finally made it back. We headed straight for the showers and got into our jimjams right after.
Pyjamas at six-fifteen. We know how to party.
We watched some Ponies for a while, and then it was time to go to the 7-11 (a convenience store) to pick up some necessities. These included a magnum, twirl, twix, a glue stick and a pack of uno cards.
I regret to say that I didn't get halfway through my magnum before it fell off the stick and onto the pavement below. I felt simply awful, and stared at the ground not quite believing that the lump of goo on the floor was my ice cream... It's one of those moments in life where you can't quite comprehend what has happened...
We made our way to the parkland that we'd found earlier, which wasn't too far from our hostel. I parked myself in the middle of a 4-way path-junction, and got some funny looks from passers by. But when I stood up and asked Nic where she wanted to sit, she said 'I don't know'. I didn't know neither, which was why I sat where I did. Avoiding decisions.
Well I'm sure you're not interested in where I sat in a park. So I'll pretend I didn't just tell you, and now proceed to tell you that Nic and I had a lovely few games of Uno. Epic card game, I love the man who created it. Or woman.
We got re-dressed for bed at around half eleven, and it was only Nic and I in the dorm. Nic was getting dressed, so I walked into the other half of the room to give her some privacy. To keep myself entertained, I did a little dance involving a bum wiggle and clicky-fingers. When I heard someone laugh, I realised that Nic and I were not the only ones in the dorm, and I had just shook my arse at a Chinese girl. Cue major embarrassment on my part and flailing apoligies flying through the air.
We settled down at midnight, when the german girls went out partying, and I personally had a much better night. Woke feeling pleasantly refreshed at eight am, and we gathered ourselves up, had some toast and were out the door with our backpacks on by tenAM, which is pretty impressive for us both. Managed to eventually catch the correct tram to take us to our next hostel-stop, The Nunnery in Fitzroy.
The Nunnery is amazing. It actually used to be a convent, and they've kept the entire Nun-theme running after it got turned to a hostel. There are statues of cupids and Mary's and little Jesus' dotted around, the clocks all have religious images behind the tickers, all the messages are signed 'Bless, the Nuns' instead of 'Thanks, the staff'. So i's a very cool place. The ceilings are high, the rooms are spacious, and you get much more comfort for your money than we did at Kings Street. Kings Street was $28 a night, and The Nunnery is $30. For $2 extra, you get a hell of a lot more. If you're coming to Melbourne, this is the place to stay.
Checking in was a task in itself though - they got the booking wrong and thought we were coming on Sunday for two nights for three people. Which is fantastically wrong, seeing as it's two people for two nights starting Monday. They managed to fix it though, and we got two beds in the same room although they're not on top of the other, they're on opposite walls. We can wave to each other from either side of the room which amuses my simple self greatly.
The people in our room are more friendly than the ones in King Street too. There's a guy from New Zealand, an Aussie, two girls from London near Heathrow, and a guy whom I haven't placed yet. There are twelve beds in the room with a big table and chairs in the middle, and it's just such a nice place to be. There's even a patio outside with a barbeque, a sun patio, and a balcony. There's a laundry room too, though I think I'll save my cash and do my washing when I get to Wendy's place. There's a big lounge area which shows sport, and Tuesday is movie night and you get free popcorn! Wednesday is Ice cream night, but we won't be here for that. Boo hiss...
We had instant macaroni cheese for pre-lunch, and it smelt like vom and tasted like old socks. YAY!
If your tired minds are still reading this, then read on to see what we did in Fitzroy!
We meandered down to Brunswick Street, which is the place to be for cafes. There are literally tonnes of them, no matter what cuisine you are after they will have it. There were even Afghan and African cafes, which was a bit like really? but there we go. We ended up having lunch in a place called Vegie Bar, which is a cafe catering specifically for (don't laugh!) vegetarians and vegans.
Now, I am the least likely person to ever venture into a Vegie Bar. Because I hate fruit, vegetables, and salads. The only reason we went there was because it had a cheese pizza, and even then I had to pick the tomatos off. Such a chore.
But it was good despite that, and not very often can one admit to being in a vegie-only cafe, so it was something interesting to do, and more interesting to write about, and I'm certain more interesting for you to read rather than the same old Maccy D's and Subways.
I ended up buying a jumper, though it has to be custom-made so that won't be ready till next week (fear not! I can come back because I'll be staying with Wendy near Melbourne!), and a ukalele. Don't ask me why, but I now own one. It is going to be my destiny to become a world-class ukalele player. I have decided. Merlin's word is final.
There are more to Brunswick Street than just the cafes though - there are cool ships selling nifty gifts, though it seems to be an expensive part of the city. Twenyfour dollars for an A5 noebook? Jog on, mate.
What was disturbing is that we mistakenly found ourselves in an BDSM shop... twice. There were no warnings at all, just sudden BOOM! WHIPS AND ROPES! which is just creepy. Whole shops devoted to it? Just... ick.
We chilled in a parkland area opposite the Nunnery for about an hour or so, and it was a litle hub of activity - tennis classes, kickboxing classes, puppy-training classes - it was all going on. I tried to figure out how my new plaything worked, and Nic lounged and watched ponies. It was a brilliant way to spend an evening after an awesome day. The sun was shining, the heat was fabulous, and I finally felt - Wow, I'm in Australia.
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